Apex court bins pleas on Ganguly

OUR LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Jan. 6: The Supreme Court today rejected two pleas related to Asok Kumar Ganguly, one seeking quashing of sexual harassment charges against the retired judge and another calling for a law against such misconduct to extend to retired judges.

A bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi told both petitioners that they could not interfere in the issue at this stage and that the “law will take its course in the matter”.

“Who are you? What is your locus standi? We have gone through your entire allegations. You are going into the merits of the case. We are not entertaining your application. It is not a matter for consideration at this stage at your instance,” the bench told gynaecologist Padma Narayan Singh on her plea that the allegations against Justice Ganguly be quashed.

Singh’s PIL claimed the allegations were a conspiracy by Mohun Bagan and the intern, whom Justice Ganguly is accused of harassing, to malign the retired apex court judge.

Justice Ganguly had as a one-man commission imposed a two-year suspension on the club in December 2012 for walking out of a match against East Bengal.

The other PIL, by advocate Uday Gupta, sought a directive to the Centre to amend rules to ensure even retired judges are accountable for their behaviour outside the court. Gupta’s petition also said a case should be registered against Justice Ganguly and the probe be monitored by the court.

Hearing Singh’s petition, the court said it was not convinced with her argument that Justice Ganguly had been framed. “We have gone into every word of your averment. We are not going to say anything. We are not expressing any opinion as it may affect the parties. It is too early. This is not a matter for our intervention.”

The court wasn’t persuaded by the arguments in Gupta’s petition either. “It appears you are arguing the case on behalf of the intern,” Justice Sathasivam observed while dismissing the petition.